United States v. Chevron U.S.A. Inc.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ENTERING CONSENT DECREE

The United States filed this action alleging violations of various environmental laws by defendant Chevron. Now before the Court is the motion to enter the proposed Consent Decree (“Decree”) settling the matter. After carefully considering the positions of all parties and amici, the Court hereby GRANTS' the motion.

BACKGROUND

A. The Petroleum Refinery Initiative

The government’s approach to this settlement can only be understood in the context of EPA’s broader Petroleum Refinery Initiative (“PRI”), which in addition to the Consent Decree before this Court has produced numerous settlements with oil refineries across the nation. Beginning in 1996, EPA identified the need to address widespread environmental law compliance problems in the petroleum refining industry through a nationwide strategy. In developing the strategy, EPA states that the traditional method of enforcing environmental laws — through investigation, identification of violations, further investigation, and finally litigation and/or settlement — was viewed as costly and time-consuming. Therefore, alternative strategies were pursued. In developing such a strategy for…